Who headed the moon mission

The Gravity Assist Podcast is hosted by NASA's Director of Planetary Science, Jim Green, who each week talks to some of the greatest planetary scientists on the planet, giving a guided tour through the Solar System and beyond in the process. This week, he is joined by lunar expert Sarah Noble to discuss how the Moon was formed, lava tubes and moonquakes, the "dark side of the Moon," and mysteries we have yet to solve about Earth's nearest neighbor. You can listen to the full podcast here, or read the transcript below. Jim Green: The Moon is a fabulous object in the sky that humans have always observed, and we've been studying it up close and personal for several decades. What do we really know about how it was formed? [The Apollo Moon Landings: How They Worked (Infographic)] Sarah Noble: Our best understanding of how the Moon formed is that, early in the formation of the Solar System, a big planetesimal [an object formed from rock, dust or other materials]— something about the … [Read more...] about Gravity Assist Podcast: The Moon, with Sarah Noble

Engineers at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, are developing a guidance, navigation, and control system for lunar landings that includes an onboard hazard-detection system able to spot craters, slopes, and rocks that could be dangerous to landing craft. In the Apollo missions of 40 years ago, astronauts steered the lander to a safe spot by looking out the window; the lander itself “had no eyes,” says Eldon Hall, a retired Draper engineer and one of the original electronics designers for Apollo’s navigation computer. That meant there were some close calls with Apollo, says Tye Brady, the technical director for lunar landing at Draper, who demonstrated his team’s automated-landing and hazard-avoidance technology at last week’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. “They were really close,” Brady says, “and one- to two-meter craters are deadly. You don’t see them till the last minute.” Apollo … [Read more...] about How to Land Safely Back on the Moon

Elon Musk’s first space tourists are scheduled to take a trip around the moon by the end of 2018—but there’s a lot to get done before that happens. His rocket company, SpaceX, has announced that two private individuals have paid a “significant deposit”—or a “little bit more than the cost of a crewed mission to the space station”—to secure spots on the journey of a lifetime. The trip will see them launched into space aboard a new people-carrying Crew Dragon capsule, lofted by a Falcon Heavy rocket. Then, they’ll head toward the moon, loop around it, and be returned to Earth. The unnamed passengers, who already know each other, will spend around a week completing the journey. The capsule should complete the mission autonomously, though in an emergency the crew may have to step in. If all goes to plan, the pair will become the first people to complete such a trip in over 40 years. But their scheduled launch date may … [Read more...] about SpaceX Plans to Fly Tourists to the Moon—but 2018 Is Ambitious

Right now, as you read these words, there’s a galactic gold rush brewing that will make 1840s California look like a rehearsal dinner. At this very moment, a handful of billionaire-backed companies are planning to mine outer space for ungodly reserves of precious metals and other untapped treasures. On the moon alone, quadrillions of dollars of interplanetary paydirt are at stake.This isn’t just a high-flying, hopelessly optimistic plan, either. Things are already in motion. The rockets are built and the FAA has already given certain companies the all-go for launch. The cosmic golden nuggets are ripe for the picking and fortune, as the saying goes, favors the bold.Whether we like it or not, some of the wealthiest venture capitalists on Earth will soon launch mining operations on the Moon — and if we ever hope to become a multi-planetary species, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.The cosmic gold rushThe treasures these space-age prospectors seek are myriad. The … [Read more...] about Billionaire space prospectors are racing to mine the moon, and that’s a good thing

Over the last 50 years, we’ve set foot on the moon, “roved” the Red Planet, and have even hurled a probe into interstellar space — but those are just the missions that succeeded. Through the decades, there have been plenty of strange projects proposed by spacefaring nations, and the vast majority of them never even reach the launch pad. To give you a taste of just how crazy some of these projects are, we’ve gathered up some of the most ridiculous of the bunch. So without further ado, here are six of the weirdest space missions ever considered.A blimp on TitanThe Cassini probe gave mankind its fist look at the Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. It is the only moon in our solar system known to have an atmosphere and researchers believe it may even host life . To prepare for future missions to Titan, NASA proposed a series of conceptual designs including a a small, helium-filled dirigible, known as the Aerover Blimp.The zeppelin would utilize three … [Read more...] about Nuking the moon, and 5 more insane space missions that never happened

Jeff Van Camp: Wii U today or Moon trip tomorrow?In 1972, researchers at Stanford University studied deferred gratification on 600 young children. The kids were put alone in a room with a single marshmallow. They could either eat the marshmallow or wait a few minutes with the promise of many more marshmallows. For the first time, I can understand what those hungry children were going through. I’ve got one big delayed gratification test on my hands.A company called Golden Spike is planning to launch a commercial travel service to the moon. I really want to go to the moon … very badly. It would be a good story to tell my friends – you know, over a round of beers, or something. Here’s the problem: Ticket prices to the moon will start at a budget price of $700 million dollars apiece, which means that I can either get a Wii U now and re-enter my life as head of the Mushroom Kingdom, or start saving up cash.Math: The Wii U costs about $350, which leaves a little less … [Read more...] about Instagram idiocy, marshmallows or the moon, and some very tricky knots in this week’s Staff Picks

Consider this one small step for technological cowboying, and one giant leap for WTF decision making. According to reports, NASA is working on a plan to “lasso” an asteroid in order to bring it to lunar orbit, allowing for further exploration and experimentation.Bill Nelson, Democratic Senator for Florida and chairman of the Senate science and space subcommittee, revealed the plan at a press conference in Orlando last week, with plans to announce President Barack Obama and the administration’s endorsement to put $100 million into this so-called “accelerated asteroid mission” later this week. Nelson described the NASA plan as “a clever concept.” Although $100 million sounds like a lot of money, the entire project reportedly has no price tag at the moment, which generally translates into “very, very expensive” rather than just clever.The concept seems surprisingly simple: To begin, NASA plans to send a robotic spaceship into … [Read more...] about Wild wild west in outer space: NASA to lasso an asteroid, park it near the moon

It is no secret that I didn’t like the previous Transformers films. In fact, I would go as far as saying I hated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Not like I hate famine, or locusts or whatever, but like I hate an ice cream headache. It hurt my brain. The first was fun but very dumb. To wit: If evil alien robots that have shown no regard for human life are after an object that humans have, why would anyone take that object into a crowded city? Why?! Granted, it was just LA, but still. On the other hand the second film was borderline offensive. A paper-thin plot, little racist robots and metal testicles left me wondering if Michael Bay had lost his damn mind. With that film, Transformers became the worst most successful franchise of all-time. So when the screening for the third movie came around I considered fleeing. They would never find me in Mexico.Thankfully my sense of responsibility (and dwindling bank account) halted my flight, and I’m glad it did. … [Read more...] about Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Less than a month after it launched Sky in Google Earth with astronomical images from around the universe, Google announced on Thursday that it is taking its space fascination a step further by sponsoring a contest to fly to the moon.Offered in partnership with the X Prize Foundation, best known for the US$10 million Ansari X Prize for private suborbital spaceflight, the Google Lunar X Prize is offering $30 million in prizes to private companies that can land a robotic rover on the moon, roam the surface, and transmit data back to Earth. The goal is to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration, Google said."The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity," said Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation. "We are confident that teams from around the world will … [Read more...] about Google Puts Its Money on the Moon

Data Analysis Scientists see Red on NASA Cuts of Mars MissionsIn this photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, second from left, examines a replica of the Mars Science Laboratory rover at NASA' Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Far left, Richard Cook, Deputy Project Manager Mars Science Lab Mission. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)NASA has said that it's not giving up on Mars, but it'll have to get there later and at a lower price. Earlier this month, the president's budget canceled joint U.S.-European robotic missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018. Now, top science officials say they are scrambling to come up with a plan by the end of the summer for a cut-rate journey to the red planet in 2018. NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld said he thinks there's a better than even chance that NASA will not miss the 2018 opportunity. That's when Mars passes closest to Earth, something that only happens once every … [Read more...] about Scientists see Red on NASA Cuts of Mars Missions